Freemasonry In France.

future of the country ; we propose that from each lodge Avell informed brethren should be delegated to carry our light into the outer world ; that in each town and proviuce these brethren should give one or two public lectures each week , and

that in Paris the chosen brethren should form a ' Council of Instruction / on the same principle as the Polytechnic Association . " The committee remark that the Councils of

1867 and 1868 having decided that the initiative in the work of instruction should be left to the lodges , they submitted that it should be so continued , in Avhich the Council concurred . Bro- Estribaud , President of Chapter " Des Arts

et Metiers , " of the Orient of Blois , submitted the following : —¦ " The Lodge and Chapter ' Des Arts et Metiers , ' in proposing that the Grand Grand Orient of France should take the necessary steps that , in

future lodges , and especially the Masters of lodges , should be freed from the importunities of mendicant brethren , who are mostly furnished Avith false certificates , and who , on arriving in the provincial toAvns , call upon the Master of the lodge at his private residence , frequently in a disreputable conditiou , annoyingly profuse in thanks when

relieved , aud equally insolent when refused . The Masonic LIAV does not effectually reach them , and it is very necessary that this vice should be extirpated . We pray the Grand Orient to adopt efficient means to remedy this evil of almost

compulsory almsgiving . '' The Committee remark that the complaints presented are worthy of attention , but do not believe it possible for the Grand Orient to adopt any measures to mitigate this evil . If the lodges

were more careful as to whom they admit , and if the officers were more cautious in the issue , of certificats de complaisance , " and above all if such credentials as are presented by mendicant brethren , of suspicious appearance , Avere detained , those

precautions would , in a great measure , have the desired effect . ( To be continued . )

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Nature states that Professor Stokes will be a member of the Royal Commission to inquire into the present State of Science in this country . Up to the present time then , so far as we are informed , the Commission stands as follows : —President , the Duke of Devonshire . Members : Professors Huxley , Stokes , and AV . A . Miller ; Dr . Slmrpey , Sir John Lubbock , Bart ., M . P . ; Messrs . Lyon Playfair , M . P ., and B . Samuelson , M . P .

A Retrospect Of The Past, By One Of The Craft.

A RETROSPECT OF THE PAST , BY ONE OF THE CRAFT .

( From the Obs . rver ) . Just seventy-five years ago , on the 13 th of May ,, 1795 , the then M . W . G . M ., of the Royal and . Ancient Order of Freemasons in England , George ,, Prince of Wales , committed to the Earl of Moira ,.

" the man of his heart and the friend he admired , " the government of all the lodges holding under , the English Constitution , and now another Prince of Wales appears among the Craft to grace theinstallation of Earl de Grey and Ripon in the

supreme chair of the Order . During the period Avhich . has elapsed since the above-mentioned date ,. Freemasonry has become Avide spread both in these kingdoms and in the colonies , and at this moment ,, notwithstanding the fact that the Canadian lodges have established a Grand Lodge of their Order ,, the muster i'oll of our lodges is fourfold what it

was then . In fact , as the people of a country become advanced in learning and in civilisation , so they willever be desirous of being admitted to a participation in those mysteries , the oldest and the holiest

Avhich have ever excited the curiosity of man or contributed to the enlightenment and refinement , of the world—an institution higher in honour than any order in existence , and one which , is in point , of antiquity anterior to the priestcraft of Egypt

—to the pagan rites of Eleusis . The history of such an institution must ever be an object o £ interest , not only to the initiated , but also to those , Avithout the pale , Avho stand dazzled by itsbrilliancy and glory , and therefore without lifting :-

the veil from the " sacred arcana of the Order , we . shall endeavour to furnish our readers Avith a brief sketch of its introduction and groAvth amongst

us . It is but reasonable to suppose that when the Phcenecians traded to the Cassitrades , or Scilly Islands , for their tin , they established factories or small colonies there , in Avhich all the

observancesand rites Avith Avhich they were familiar at home ,. . Avere duly observed aud celebrated , and that among these the practice of Freemasonry , Avhich they had acquired from their neighbours in Judea , was not neglected . Here it Avas that the

moreenlightened of the ancient Britons , the Druids , Avere admitted to a knowledge of the Masonic rites which they afterwards corrupted into a system , of their OAVII , which they celebrated afar from vul-